After 39 years Dengler hangs up his badge

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, February 13, 2008

By FRANK MacEACHERN

fmaceachern@wiltonvillager.com

WILTON -- Wilton Police Sgt. Wayne Dengler's first day on the job was something out of a Western.

"The resident trooper Donald Waite told me 'you're going to need a badge' and reached into a drawer and gave me my badge," said Dengler recalling back to May 15, 1968. "I was sworn in by the clerk, just the two of us, and that was it."

Dengler, 62, is retiring as a Wilton Police officer after 39 years 9 months and 1 day on Feb. 16. His last day on Wilton's streets will be Feb. 14.

"I've been involved in everything, from murder investigations, to helping a woman in childbirth to delivering messages about the people who died in the World Trade Center (terrorist attacks)," said Dengler in a recent interview.

Wilton Police spokesman Capt. Michael Lombardo said Dengler has is a fountain of information due to his years of service.

"He takes with him a wealth of history that he has about the town and the department," said Lombardo. That history and his devotion to the department is something we're going to miss,"

He joined the police service straight out of the military where he had served in Vietnam in the mid-60's before moving on to the Presidential Guard at the White House for one year.

Born in New Jersey, he heard of the Wilton opening because his parents had moved to Ridgefield. He wanted to be a police officer after leaving the service and applied for the position. A few days after he was discharged he was issued his badge and was sent to work patrolling the town. Unlike today when new recruits are sent first to the police academy, Dengler had to wait for an opening and it wasn't until a year later there was a spot for him to complete the five-week course.

When he joined he held the rank of constable as the town didn't have its own stand-alone police service. Policing in the town was overseen by state police. That changed in 1969 when the Wilton Police Department was created under Chief Robert J. Northcott.

In 1968 the police headquarters was in the basement of town hall. It wasn't until 1974 that the police moved into their new headquarters.

When new recruits join Wilton Police Dengler said he takes them over to the basement to show them what it was like.

Although Wilton has the reputation of a quiet and peaceful suburb, the town isn't immune to crime, said Dengler.

"We've had every type of crime here, from murder to sexual assault to kidnapping. In 1969 we had probably one of the largest LSD seizures ever (in the country). We had 55 gallon drums filled with LSD components in a barn," he said.

Dengler said he is a connection to an earlier time when police officers had to make do with what they had and had little in the way of specialized equipment available to police today. He said the new technology and equipment police used have vastly improved their jobs pointing to impaired driving cases as an example.

"It was very tough for us to prove drinking and driving cases, we just didn't have the technology. Now, I can't say it's 100 percent, but it's really close in the convictions we get."

He said it's important to remember the basis of good police work is working with people.

"Regardless of the technology you are still dealing with people and that's never going to change. The basics are still the same when you are dealing with people. They want to be treated with dignity and respect and I try to give it to them," said Dengler.